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The Bonnie Wee Lassie frae Gourock

Date 26 April 1971
Track ID 89248
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1971.071

Original Tape ID

SA1971.071

Summary

Comic music-hall song in which the singer describes courting a young woman from Gourock.

Item Notes

Usually called 'The Bonnie Wee Lassie frae Gourock', in relation to Belle Stewart's performances on disc and in print, this is actually Harry Lauder's 'Piper MacFarlane'. The words were written by Lauder and Gerald Grafton, to music by Lauder, published and recorded for Pathé in 1906. Both MacColl & Seeger (in 'Till Doomsday in the Afternoon', 1986, pp. 262-264) and Geordie McIntyre (in his notes to 'Belle Stewart: Queen Among the Heather' CDTRAX9055, 1998) note that Belle learned the song from a broadsheet, from The Poet's Box in Dundee.

See also:
'Francis & Day's 2nd Album of Harry Lauder's Popular Songs' (no date, sometime between 1909 and 1912) pp. 44-45

Recording Location

County - Kinross-shire

Parish - Kinross

Village/Place - Kinross

Item Location

County - Renfrewshire

Parish - Inverkip

Village/Place - Gourock

Language

Scots

Genre

Song

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R5212

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good